DU wants opinion from teachers, students on TSC development

The engineering division of Dhaka University (DU) has urged all the current teachers and students of the university to let the authorities know about their expectations and recommendations on the development and extension of the DU Teacher-Student Centre (TSC).

DU asked for the recommendations in a letter signed by the acting chief engineer of DU Abul Kalam Sikder, sent to all the faculty deans and institute directors on Thursday.

Attaching a Google form weblink (https://forms.gle/GnfMKXKS1NBVZGND7) the notice asked to submit the remarks by January 2, 2021.

Confirming the matter, Abul Kalam Sikder said they would submit the recommendations and expectations to the Public Works Department (PWD) of the government – who will operate the development works according to the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We can not overlook the views of the main stakeholders (teachers and students),” he said.

TSC - a universally admired centre in relation to the country’s student politics and cultural life - will soon be demolished to be rebuilt into a modern structure ahead of the university’s birth centenary celebrations in 2021.

The Public Works Department (PWD) came up with the move after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s call on September 2 to modernize Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), TSC, and Shahbagh’s Public Library.

The premier on the day said plans for many institutions, including DMCH, had already been formulated but the design for the TSC had not been completed yet. 

She also said she had already directed the authorities concerned to prepare the design in a proper manner, as she wanted to rebuild the centre as a modern one.

Architects are in a dilemma as to whether they will break down the existing TSC building and rebuild it, or construct new buildings at the back while keeping the front structure the same, a top DU official earlier said.

On November 29, however, Executive Engineer of the Public Work Department (PWD) Dhaka Circle-4 Md Mahabubur Rahman, had confirmed that the entire existing TSC establishment would be demolished and a new complex would be built instead.

The Greek architect, planner, and theoretician Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis (1913-1975) designed TSC in the early 1960s and later the TSC building was built as part of the so-called Decade of Development (between 1958 and 1968) of the then Pakistani military government of General Ayub Khan.

Demolition of the iconic TSC sparked an outcry among former and current students and teachers of the university after Dhaka Tribune ran a report in this regard.